Esports: Business Model Design and Value Co-Creation
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
eSports: Business Model Design and Value Co-creation Master’s Thesis M.Sc. in Business Administration and Information Systems (e-Business) Author: Evgenia Ntovinou Date of Submission: 1 December, 2016 Supervisor: Jonas Hedman Number of Characters / Number of Pages: 132.537 / 55 Copenhagen Business School, 2016 ABSTRACT The concepts of value, value creation, value co-creation and business models have been widely discussed in the literature. Despite that, they empirical foundation is lacking and also these concepts are often discussed upon mature industries. The eSports industry is considered an emerging field that has not yet been standardized. The aim of this thesis is to answer the question of how can the concept of value co-creation be understood through the design of business models within the eSports industry. A qualitative approach was undertaken, using questionnaires and Skype interviews with representatives from the scene. The VISOR business model framework is used as a tool of analysis so as to comprehend the business processes of eSports actors in light of co-creating value with the customers. The findings showed that different actors within the industry engage in various ways with their customers and technology is at the core of this process. Overall, it was concluded that the eSports industry is continuously growing and the concepts of value co-creation and business model design are highly interrelated. Keywords: value, value creation, value co-creation, eSports, business model, VISOR framework 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Master Thesis is written for the Master’s Programme of Business Administration and Information Systems (e-Business) at the Copenhagen Business School (CBS). Also, the inspiration came after discussion in a regular base with my supervisor, Jonas Hedman. Above all I would like to thank my supervisor Jonas Hedman for all the support and guidance he has provided me with for the final consistency of this report. Also, I would like to thank the General manager for tricked esport, Peter Møldrup, General manager for EHOME E-Sport, Mr. Tang WenYi, Coach of Astralis, Danny Sørensen, Master Thesis on the economic system around CS:GO and eSports fan, Philippe Bochaton and the Founder and owner of Copenhagen Games and esports.dk, Zahid Butt. Evgenia Ntovinou 3 Table of Contents ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ 3 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 7 1.1 Problem background ........................................................................................................ 7 1.2 Industry under study ......................................................................................................... 7 1.3 Purpose of the study ......................................................................................................... 8 1.4 Research question and research objectives ...................................................................... 9 1.5 Thesis structure ................................................................................................................ 9 2 ESPORTS INDUSTRY OVERVIEW .................................................................................. 11 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 11 2.2 What is eSports? ............................................................................................................. 11 2.3 Background of eSports ................................................................................................... 12 2.3.1 Industry Players ...................................................................................................... 17 2.4 eSports business view..................................................................................................... 20 2.4.1 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 21 3 Literature Review.................................................................................................................. 22 3.1 Concepts of Value, Value Creation and Value Co-creation........................................... 22 3.1.1 Value ....................................................................................................................... 22 3.1.2 Value Creation ........................................................................................................ 22 3.1.3 Value co-creation .................................................................................................... 23 3.2 Concept of a Business Model ......................................................................................... 24 3.3 Business model design for co-creation........................................................................... 26 3.4 Business Models in eSports............................................................................................ 28 4 Theoretical Framework ......................................................................................................... 29 4.1 Business Model Canvas ................................................................................................. 29 4.2 Capturing value from innovation ................................................................................... 30 4.3 VISOR Business Model Framework .............................................................................. 31 4.4 Why VISOR? ................................................................................................................. 32 5 Methodical Reflections ......................................................................................................... 33 5.1 Research approach.......................................................................................................... 34 5.2 Strategy and Research Design ........................................................................................ 34 4 5.2.1 Qualitative Research Design ................................................................................... 35 5.3 Data Collection and Analysis Methods .......................................................................... 35 5.3.1 Data Collection ....................................................................................................... 35 5.3.2 Analysis methods .................................................................................................... 37 5.4 Ethics, Reliability, Validity, Generalizability ................................................................ 38 5.4.1 Research Ethics ....................................................................................................... 38 5.4.2 Reliability, Validity and Generalizability ............................................................... 38 5.5 Limitations ..................................................................................................................... 39 6 Implementing the VISOR framework ................................................................................... 40 6.1 Game developers ............................................................................................................ 40 6.1.1 Value proposition .................................................................................................... 40 6.1.2 Interface .................................................................................................................. 41 6.1.3 Service platforms .................................................................................................... 42 6.1.4 Organizing model.................................................................................................... 43 6.1.5 Revenue Model ....................................................................................................... 43 6.2 Professional eSports Teams ........................................................................................... 44 6.2.1 Value Proposition.................................................................................................... 44 6.2.2 Interface .................................................................................................................. 44 6.2.3 Service Platform...................................................................................................... 45 6.2.4 Organizing Model ................................................................................................... 45 6.2.5 Revenue Stream ...................................................................................................... 45 6.3 Competition Organizers ................................................................................................. 46 6.3.1 Value proposition .................................................................................................... 46 6.3.2 Interface .................................................................................................................. 47 6.3.3 Service platform ...................................................................................................... 47 6.3.4 Organizing model...................................................................................................